Doubt & Trust
by Sakura 8D
Summary: Sasuke is forced back to Konoha. After having a night to think, he's looking forward to coming back to the village. But after a week or so, he finds it strange that he hasn't seen any of his familiar friends. Are they really just on a mission? SasuSaku
1. Welcome Home

Disclaimer: No owny Naruto

_**Disclaimer**__**: No owny Naruto… sadly…**_

_**F.Y.I.: **__This is happening….. oh…… 3 years after Sasuke leaves, which means Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto are all 15 years old. That is all._

Konoha…. Eight O'Clock at Night…. Hokage's Office…

"Come in," Tsunade responded to the knocks at the door as she placed another mission file in the 'complete' rack.

The door quickly opened and, at first, only two ANBU ninja walked in and bowed.

"What is it?" The hokage asked, not in the best.

One of the ninjas answered, "Hokage-sama, I'm glad to say we will be having a 'special' guest with us today during our mission report…"

"'Special' guest?" But as soon as the other four ANBU dragged in a worn figure, who had a wool, brown bag over their head, she immediately recognized them.

The prisoner's wrists were chained behind their back, the chains jingling every time they moved.

They were forced to sit down in the chair in front of her desk.

The fifth instantly noticed the cuts and bruises that covered their captive; also the slowness of their reactions.

"So…. I take it you had an interesting encounter on your mission today, then?" The hokage continued, taking out a new mission file to record the information.

The ANBU leader nodded.

Pushing the prisoner's head forward, the ANBU ninja untied the rope that was around their neck.

Quickly, the bag was removed, exposing a set of onyx eyes to the setting sun that shone in through the window.

The prisoner pulled against the chains, trying to free their hands to block the stinging light.

"That's probably the most amount of light you've seen all week."

Tsunade turned around and slightly lowered the blinds, just enough so that the sun wasn't in their eyes anymore.

"Well… it's already eight, and I have an important meeting with a noble that wishes to move just outside of Konoha. We have enough time for the mission, _only_…." Tsunade explained, sitting back down into her chair. "Shizune!"

The assistant immediately appeared next to the captive, surprising them a bit.

"Yes Hokage-sama," Shizune responded.

"Please take our 'guest' to the ANBU headquarters. Two ninjas from this will help escort you two."

"Yes Hokage-sama."

Just as said, two ninjas, one grabbing each of the hostage's arms, pulled them out of the chair and out the door.

They didn't replace the bag, though they did blindfold him half way there, as to not reveal the location of the headquarters.

A sudden burst of cool air into a hot summer day told the prisoner that they had entered the building.

The ANBU didn't take him immediately to a holding cell, but into one full of files and files of all the criminals ever kept there.

"Uchiha Sasuke," A deep voice said, making the prisoner lift his head a bit, "I was wondering when I'd be seeing you here! Though you won't be here long. In a few days you'll be sentenced to death and-"

The voice was interrupted by a smack.

"Don't go saying things you know aren't going to happen IDIOT!!" a second, kinder voice exclaimed. "You two, (points to ANBU (Shizune left)) please guard the door on the outside. Dai, you go get a cell ready."

"Oh, come on, Aki! Kicking me out AGAIN!!" Dai responded as he followed the other two out the door.

Sasuke stood there, in the middle of the room, chained and blindfolded.

Aki stood up and led the Uchiha to the chair in front of her desk.

After he sat down, she fiddled with the cloth that covered his eyes.

This time, when the light was once again visible to him, there was no setting sun, or forest landscapes. There wasn't even a window.

Just four closed-up walls… keeping him in and the world separate… almost like they protected the other villagers from knowing that a traitor was behind their walls and still living.

Aki grabbed a key from her desk and unlocked his sore arms.

Sasuke sighed.

The chains jingled as Aki threw them on her desk.

Slowly, Sasuke brought his arms in front of him and he rubbed his wrists hard.

Right before she passed him, she noticed something on the palms of his hands.

"What's that?" she asked, reaching for his hands.

He tried to hide it quick, but he wasn't fast enough.

She pulled his hand closer for her to see.

"Ah," she said eventually, "I see… the ANBU squad that brought you back must've had a sealer in their team…."

"S-sealer?" Sasuke asked, his voice wavy and sore from not talking to much of anyone for the three years he was gone, especially this past week.

"Yep. Looks like your chakura's been temporarily sealed. Let me see if I can do something about that…"

Aki traced the seal's marks, and his hand began to sting.

"There!" she exclaimed as she walked back to her chair.

Sasuke looked down at the seal.

Noticing nothing different, he asked, "So… what'd you do?"

Aki smiled and said, "The seal was set to over a year. I lowered its lasting time to about two weeks. If we were to leave it at a year, you would've lost all your techniques by the time you got your chakura back. You should be thanking me."

Sasuke lowered his head, added, "Oh… thanks I guess…."

"Anytime!!"

Aki took out a file and began looking through it. (A pretty big file if I do say so myself!)

After recording much information about the past three years, Aki called in Dai.

The ninja walked in.

"Dai, can you please take Sasuke to the cell?" the ninja asked her teammate.

"Sure," he said as he reached for the chains that remained on the desk.

Sasuke tensed up, remembering the pain around his wrists.

"That won't be necessary, Dai…" Aki said, picking up the chains and putting them in the first drawer of her desk.

"Uh, ok…"

Looking down at the Uchiha, he motioned for him to follow out the door.

When they exited, however, the ANBU members that were waiting outside were no longer there.

'_Damn… I'm so tired… that I didn't even…. Notice them gone….'_ Sasuke thought as he silently followed the man down the hall.

There were doors… and doors…. More doors….

Finally, they got to the end of the hallway, where there was a large metal door with many locks.

Using his chakura, he unlocked the door, only to be faced by two masked ANBU ninjas with their swords drawn and ready to fight.

"Don't worry guys, he's with me. I'm putting him in cell 5."

Dai grabbed Sasuke's arm and dragged him past the guards.

One of the guards locked up the door behind them.

The other, however, quickly turned and exclaimed, "Wait!"

Dai turned around and asked, "What is it?"

"Is he sealed up? The last person we put in that cell was able to escape, using his chakura to climb up to the window and cut his way out…" the ninja responded, being very doubtful.

Dai sighed.

Sasuke looked up at Dai and swallowed hard.

"Really guys. You have to have a bit more trust than that. You make me depressed that I even know you sometimes!" Dai said, turning around and continuing on his way, dragging a confused Uchiha after him.

The ninja was still gripping his arm; specifically in the spot where a deep cut was.

His pride refused to let him show it, but Sasuke was in pain.

He looked down at the hard hand and then up at the ninja it belonged to.

"You're making my cut worse…" he said plainly.

The ninja stopped for a moment and turned to face him, confused.

Sasuke shook off the ANBU's hand and pointed to the large river of blood going down his arm.

Lifting his sleeve, a large wound on his upper forearm was clearly visible.

"Oh…" Dai started, "As soon as I get you to your cell, I'll get a medic-nin to come and fix you up. You're covered in cuts…"

Sasuke nodded and continued to follow him down the hall.

A drop of blood began making its way down from his forehead and in between his eyebrows.

Sasuke quickly wiped it away before it got in his eyes.

The Uchiha had many cuts on his face… ESPECIALLY his face.

Opponents usually found it amusing when they thought about ruining his 'good looks,' thinking it might making his will to fight weaker.

Of course, he could care less.

He figured that if he had ever came back to Konoha, then he ruined 'good looks' would bring the end of his fan girls.

Presently, there was a cut across his forehead and one running in a straight line from his lip, down his chin and neck.

The largest one started at the top of his forehead, ran down, intersected with the other cut, came through his eyebrow, barely missed his left eye, and finally ended by going diagonal across his cheek and stopped to the left of his mouth.

It was painful for him to do anything; talk, walk, move, anything and everything.

He sighed.

Finally, after many turning corners and doors, they reached the cell.

Using his chakura again, the ninja opened the door.

The room was very bright, which annoyed Sasuke greatly.

"You'll be here overnight. Then we'll take you to a better room," Dai explained, "If I can't get a medic-nin in here to fix you up, you'll be taken to the hospital beforehand. Ok?"

Sasuke nodded, but hesitated to go into the room.

He even took a small step back.

"Yeah, I know," Dai continued, "It's too light in there. But we just replaced the bulbs and this is the most secure room in the headquarters. I'm afraid it's only getting worse from here…"

Sasuke lowered his head and slowly walked into the cell.

Dai watched him walk down the few steps on the side and look around the generally empty room.

Right before he closed the door, the ninja remembered something.

"Oh! Right!" Dai ran down the steps while looking for something in his pocket, "Hokage-sama told me to give you this."

He handed the Uchiha a small package that was wrapped in brown paper.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked.

Dai shrugged.

Turning, he left the room and closed the door behind him.

The traitor could hear the clicks of the locks as Dai closed him in.

Sasuke sighed and looked around the room again.

There was only a chair and an old mattress that was laid on the floor.

There were no windows, either, though that was fully expected.

But what annoyed Sasuke the most was that everything was WHITE.

The walls were white, the mattress was white, and the light just made it worse.

He was like a black dot in a world of white.

He sighed again and sat down on the mattress, examining the package.

Sasuke carefully lifted the pieces of tape, trying not to rip the brown paper.

Slipping out the contents, he found two items, a deck of cards and an envelope.

On the deck, there was a note.

It read:

_Trust me, it gets boring in there… -Tsunade_

Sasuke sighed, and moved to the envelope.

Carefully, again, he tore it open to find a small stack of photos.

Sasuke stiffened at first.

He didn't feel like being reminded of those wonderful times, and the time he made the worst possible mistake a person could make.

The Uchiha immediately put them down and looked away.

But… slowly… his curiosity got the better of him.

He carefully picked them up again and began flipping through them.

The first one was the oh-so-famous Team 7 picture.

The next was one of Naruto and Sakura sitting on _that_ bench… he actually remembered taking that picture for them.

There was one overlooking all of Konoha.

One of the faces carved in the mountain side.

Another of Kakashi reading his perverted books.

Photo after photo, picture after picture, the memories of wonderful times hit Sasuke, one after another.

Suddenly, he stop flipping through them.

There was… a picture… of Sakura crying.

She obviously wasn't so happy about Naruto trying to take a picture of her like that either.

'_Why is she crying? I've never seen her crying like that… except for that first mission to the Waves… on that damn bridge…'_ Sasuke thought, adding a sigh at the end.

There was only one left.

Sasuke slowly put down the picture of Sakura crying, though on a different pile than the rest.

Looking at the last photo, Sasuke blushed a bit.

He remembered that day very well.

"_Hey there…" Sasuke said as he approached Team 7's meeting spot._

_Naruto was standing there, looking annoyed._

"_Where have you BEEN!! Sakura went looking for you. You're almost as late as Kakashi-sensei. WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU??"_

_Sasuke looked at him blankly._

"_Naruto," he said._

"_What?"_

"_Shut up."_

_Naruto immediately got irritated._

"_WHAT DID YOU DO NOW BAKA!!" he exclaimed, "GO LOOK FOR HER!!"_

_Sasuke rolled his eyes and simply stated, "Fine."_

_Turning around, he walked through Konoha, looking for the girl who had originally went out looking for him._

_He spotted her on the top of a large hill._

_Sighing, he made his way to the hill, climbing up the less-steep side of it._

_Sakura had her hand covering the sun that hit her eyes._

_She was looking around the village, probably looking for him._

"_Sakura, come on, we need to go to training…" Sasuke said to her, sounding half bored, half annoyed._

_She quickly spun around, exclaiming, "Sasuke! I've been looking everywhere for you!"_

_But… she spun too fast._

_She began losing her balance._

"_Sakura! Be careful! You're close to the edge!!" He exclaimed, all in vain._

_He ran towards her, his hands quickly gripping hers._

_But it was too late._

_Soon, both of them were almost off the edge, the only thing holding them up were Sasuke's underweight body._

_But that wasn't enough._

_The two teammates came tumbling down the cliff side of the hill._

"_I'm… sorry…" Sakura mumbled before fainting from fear._

_Sasuke tried his best to keep his cool._

_He pulled her close to him and tried to concentrate his chakura in his feet._

_However, he had underestimated the amount of time he had to stop the dropping, and they hit the ground just as his chakura was getting fired up._

_He felt something cut into his back, and a river of blood made its way down his face._

_Sasuke felt himself fall unconscious, but he quickly pulled himself together and sat up._

_He could feel the blood running down his back, and he looked around for Sakura._

_She laid next to him, still out, and a small bruise on her cheek._

"_S… Sakura… w…. wake up… are… are you ok…?" He muttered, using all of his energy to shake her shoulder._

_He heard some rapid footsteps echo through his sore head, but he didn't seem to notice them fully._

_Sakura slowly opened her eyes._

_Noticing Sasuke bleeding, she immediately sat up and exclaimed, "OH MY GOD! SASUKE! ARE YOU OK?"_

_The Uchiha could feel his heart calm down._

_Slowly, he pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her._

"_So… you're ok… good…" he mumbled into her ear._

"_Sasuke, your back is bleeding, and you have a cut on your head. We need to get you to the hospital before it gets worse!" Sakura continued._

_Suddenly, Naruto and Kakashi ran up to them._

_A few ANBU members accompanied them._

_One of the ANBU helped Sakura up while the other two pulled Sasuke up to his feet._

_Naruto said something stupid, and Sakura laughed and went to hug him._

_Sasuke felt himself fall forward._

_The last thing he remembered was someone catching him before he hit the ground._

_He was pulled up onto one of the ANBU's backs and they took him to the hospital._

_Along the way, he could hear the others talking._

"_Kakashi-sensei, is Sasuke going to be ok? He looked like he was in a lot of pain…" Sakura said, sounding worried._

"_Don't worry," Kakashi responded, "But it looks like there were some rocks or something at the bottom. Sasuke's back looks pretty cut-up. Your lucky he was there, you would've been hurt way worse than just a bruise to the cheek…."_

_Their voices quickly faded away, Sasuke's concussion making him pass out._

_Sasuke slowly moved his hand, reached up, and scratched the tight bandage that was wrapped around his head._

"_Sasuke! Stop that!" a voice from the side yelled._

_His hand was pulled down quickly._

_The Uchiha sighed and opened his eyes._

_Sakura was sitting next to him, looking ticked off._

_Immediately, she realized that he was awake and got herself together._

"_Sasuke! Are you feeling ok? Man, I was so scared…" she exclaimed to him._

_He unconsciously tried to sit up, instantly getting help from the girl._

"_Are you ok?" he asked her when he noticed the bandage on her cheek._

"_Sasuke! I'm just FINE!! Thanks to you!"_

_She hugged him gently, knowing the pain that was in his back right now._

"_Thank you Sasuke. You saved my life…" she said in his ear._

_Slowly, because of the pain, he returned the hug, twirling her hair around his finger._

_Strange tears started to run down her face._

_Sasuke quickly whispered in her ear, "Please don't cry…"_

_Sakura answered, "Heh, I'm happy… I'm happy you're ok…"_

_Sasuke put his chin over her head and continued to play with her hair._

_And CLICK!_

That's what the picture was.

Sasuke, sitting in a hospital bed, hugging and comforting a crying Sakura, who was too happy to see him awake.

Sasuke smiled.

That was one of the fondest memories he had.

He took that one and placed it at the edge of the bed.

He took the rest of the pictures and put them back in the envelope.

The special photo was placed on top of the envelope, though not inside.

Taking the deck of cards out, he quickly tried to remember some card games he could play by himself.

'_Let's see… there's the wish one…' _Sasuke thought, _'How did you play that? Oh yeah... you make a wish, or if you want to know if something will happen, then you lay the cards out in a triangle, the rows overlapping the previous row. Then you start flipping through the remaining cards and remove the cards that fall in order as you go. If you can get the whole triangle gone before you finish flipping through the leftovers, then your wish will come try, or that something you wanted to know if would happen would."_

He quickly laid out the cards.

"I want to know…." Sasuke thought out loud, "If Sakura still loves me…"

He quickly made the triangle smaller and smaller until he won.

Sasuke smiled to himself.

"Now I wanna know… If I'll become a ninja again…"

Again, he won.

"Will Konoha accept me?"

Winner!

He continued to ask question after question, winning one after another.

Slowly, sleepiness was getting him, though he didn't let himself sleep.

He spent the whole night, his cards the only entertainment.

#

I hope you all enjoyed that! Next chapter, coming soon!

Sakura 8D


	2. A Little Mercy

*The Next Morning…..*

Sasuke had fallen asleep during the night on the cot.

He had been staring at the picture of Sakura crying, replaying over and over the event in his mind.

Echoing sounds of the unlocking door slowly woke the boy up.

Aki walked into the room with a tray of food.

"Good morning," she said, placing the tray on the floor in front of him.

She then sat down in the chair.

"Hm," he grunted, not even opening his eyes.

He could just feel the redness of lack-of-sleep on his eyes.

Aki glared at him, kicking his cot.

"Get up… now…" she stated in a commanding voice.

Sasuke subconsciously turned away from her, now lying on his side.

After getting up from her chair and putting the tray on it, she gripped the edges of the mattress and flipped it to its side on the Uchiha.

Sasuke hit the floor, groaning a bit a moment later.

"Serves you right. Now are you going to eat the food I brought, or are you going to go on a hunger strike like the prisoner next door? It's a good way to save us money, I'll give you that…"

She let go of the mattress, allowing it to flip over on him.

"Hm…" he mumbled under the mattress, not having the energy to crawl out from underneath it.

"You have three seconds… three…two…" Aki started, folding down her fingers as she said the corresponding number.

"Hm, hold on a sec," he muttered just as she was about to say one.

Aki smiled to herself, knowing she wasn't very persuasive, but that he gave in anyway.

Sasuke managed to push the mattress off of him, the cards now scattered all over the floor.

He looked up at her with an accusing expression.

She shrugged and said, "Look at it this way; I just gave you something to do in your free time…"

He rolled his eyes and stood up.

Sasuke mumbled under his breath, "That's a horrible way to wake someone up…"

Aki shrugged again.

"It works on my teammates. All ninja are the same nowadays…"

The traitor ignored her comment and reached for the tray of food, but the girl quickly slapped his hand.

He pulled it back and rubbed it, exclaiming, "What was that for??"

Aki shook a blaming finger at him.

"Shame, shame, shame. Since you didn't accept my offer from before, I want you to run three laps around the room before I give you your breakfast. Ready, set, go!"

Instead of getting up and running like he was going to, Sasuke just stared up at her and exclaimed again, "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO WANTS ME TO BE EATING!!!"

Aki shrugs.

"I'm not losing anything from bullying a prisoner. It's my job, remember?"

The Uchiha stared at her for a long time, before he started to jog lightly around the room.

Aki clapped in a mocking way, adding, "That'da boy!! Go run around the big room!! Go, go, GO!!"

She laughed.

Sasuke stopped half way through his second lap and stared at her.

"Whaa? Hurry up; your food's going to spoil."

He continued the rest of the way and sat down on the cot when he finished.

Aki pushed the chair towards him and headed for the door.

"Oi, wait a second there," Sasuke started, "What about my injuries? What's-his-face said that you'd get a medic in here to fix me up before you take me to a different room if you can…?"

Aki turned back around.

"Ah, you mean Dai? That's true… we do need to get someone in here to take a look at you…" she said as she scratched her head, an oh-yeah-I-didn't-notice-you-are-on-the-verge-of-death tone in her voice.

Sasuke stared at her, annoyed, for the ump-tenth time that morning.

Aki shrugged.

"I can't do anything for you there. We'll transport you to the hospital as soon as your new room is ready. Yup? Yup!"

She disappeared behind the door frame.

Sasuke just yawned and lied down on the bed once more.

Cereal, the most boring and annoying breakfast a person can have sometimes, was to be his.

Slowly, he shoved a spoonful of annoying sugariness into his mouth.

The traitor grimaced a bit at the large amount of sugar he was consuming at one time, more than he had had at Orochimaru's in a week, all in that one bite.

'_Sugar rush, sugar rush, sugar rush,'_ he thought, feeling himself start to twitch.

'_**He's practically drunk…'**_ his inner added, though Sasuke took no notice of this comment.

By the time he had finished one mere bowl of cereal, his cheeks were red from consuming it, and he knew he was going to have a sugar rush.

"I-I h-h-hate s-sugar-r r-rushes-s…" he stuttered.

At that moment, Dai walked into the room.

"Hey there. I'm bored, and figured you'd want some company…"

Dai stopped in his tracks and stared at the shivering Uchiha.

He raised an eyebrow.

"You ok?" he muttered as he moved the empty bowl on the tray from the chair and sat down in its place.

"N-no," the traitor started, "just N-NEVER EVER-R give me so much s-sugar for b-breakfast again!! I can live a month off that one b-bowl of s-sugary C-CRAP-P…"

He giggled, yes giggles, uncontrollably afterwards.

Dai put an amused expression on and began his tormenting.

He reached down and messed with Sasuke's hair.

"Aw, poor little baka. Having some sugar problems? I should call your mommy… oh wait… we can't exactly do that now… CAN WE?"

Simply put, Sasuke knocked him off his chair and started to punch and kick him before he even had the chance to get up.

…which wasn't the smartest thing to do, considering cameras covered the entire cell and surrounding area.

…and he was on continuous surveillance…

However, before the other ANBU members had a chance to react, Dai managed to get Sasuke off of him and began running around the cell, the traitor close behind.

Those watching through the cameras simply relaxed and observed the amusing sight.

After a few moments, Dai was able to trip Sasuke and got out of the cell, slamming the door right as the Uchiha reached it.

He could hear him scratching at the door on the other side.

Dai laughed.

Opening the barred window on the door, he just barely dodged Sasuke's hands coming out in between the bars.

"Haha, you're going to have to do better than that, my friend…" Dai mocked, taking out his handcuffs.

Before Sasuke could figure out what he was planning, Dai had handcuffed Sasuke's hands, trapping him between the bars.

The surveillance people were laughing in the control room, though Aki quickly went down to solve this distraction.

"Dai! You son of a bitch! Take off these damn handcuffs right now!! AGH!!" Sasuke exclaimed as he managed to slipping most of his arms back into the cell, though the shackles held his wrist captive on the other side.

Aki arrived at this time.

"Dai…" she said in an upset-mother kind of way.

Said boy put a pouting face on, saying in the process, "I won't unlock them. He deserves it!"

Aki sighed.

"We all know he deserves it, but come on. Have a little mercy on the kid. There's plenty of time for that later…"

Sasuke remained silent, his eyes having a hint of red.

He couldn't activate the Sharingan since his chakra was still sealed, so that was the best he could do when he was angry… for now.

Dai sighed and took out a jingling keychain.

Picking out the smallest one, he went up to Sasuke, took his wrist violently in one hand, and unlocked them.

After getting the other hand, Sasuke slipped his arms completely back on the other side, rubbing his sore wrists.

His anger was all gone, and it was like the sugary sugar episode never happen, though now the scattered cards were everywhere and in every direction.

"That'da boy Dai…" Aki said, turning around and heading back the way she came, "Let's leave him alone for a little bit. He's going to be moved into his new room soon anyway…"

Dai closed the window, covering the sight of Sasuke lying down on the cot, and followed Aki away from the cell.

*Later, in the afternoon…*

Sasuke, after collecting and counting the cards, and straightening up the room as best as he could, had managed to get some sleep.

Quietly, Dai and Aki walked into the cell.

They were able to get the loud locks to give way silently.

Dai went up to the Uchiha and calmly shook his shoulder while Aki got his stuff together.

"Sasuke… eh, Sasuke? Come on, wake up…" he whispered.

Sasuke's hand came up and pushed Dai's hand away.

He mumbled something in his sleep and tried to turn away from the ANBU.

"Nice try. As much as I would want to leave you here to sleep, I've got to get you to the hospital…"

Dai dragged the traitor by his shoulders to his feet.

Generally holding him up, Dai followed Aki, who held his backpack and "boredom items," out into the hall.

Sasuke tried to rub his eyes, though he was somewhat disorientated, and would either poke them painfully or hit himself in the face.

Dai had to (several times, I might add) pull his hands away from his face so he doesn't make his pretty bad wounds worse.

*A little later, at the hospital…*

Coming in through the back door, Dai, Aki, and a half-dead Sasuke arrived at the hospital.

"This way, Sasuke…" Aki whispered to him as they lead him towards the operation room.

Dai handed the boy to his teammate and spoke to the nurse who just came out of the room.

"Is Hokage-sama still in there? We have a patient for her…" he asked her.

"Yes, but she should be out soon. The operation just ended. Would you like to put him in a room?" she responded, nodding to the Uchiha when she asked.

"Uh, sure. As long as he is seen by Hokage-sama as soon as possible…"

The nurse nodded.

"I'll let her know you've arrived right now, and then I will take you to a room."

She entered the room again, just as another doctor exited and headed for the stairs.

"Hey Dai… A little help here…?" Aki asked.

Sasuke had leaned his entire weight on her shoulder, something she could normally handle, had it not been for the injuries and the possibility of making them worse.

Dai walked back over to her and pushed Sasuke against his shoulder instead of Aki's.

A few moments later, the nurse returned and directed them towards an empty room.

"Hokage-sama will be out in a moment…" the nurse said, disappearing once again.

Aki and Dai guided Sasuke to the bed.

They carefully laid him on it.

After opening his eyes a few times and looking around the room, Sasuke closed his eyes and fell asleep.

As soon as he fell into a deep sleep, the Hokage walked into the room.

Both ANBU members stood up and bowed to her when she arrived.

"Well then. Let's see what you've done to yourself this time Uchiha…" Tsunade muttered to herself, yet the others too at the same time.

Not caring much, she took a pair of scissors from the nightstand next to the bed and cut Sasuke's shirt straight down the middle.

"Hm… at first glance… I'd say that he's done something to his wrist, and then there are those obvious wounds to the face… a few broken ribs… he's bleeding rather harshly…"

She turned to the ANBU members.

"You two wait outside. When I'm done fixing him up, you can return him to the headquarters."

They nodded and exited.

*An hour later…*

Dai and Aki stood again as the Hokage entered the hallway.

"Alright. I don't have time to go through complete details. The list of injuries and medication for them are listed on a page in his file, which is on the nightstand, ok? He's a bit off, but awake, so the sooner you get him back, the better…"

They nodded and with nothing more, Tsunade walked away.

As they returned to the room, Aki went straight for the list, while Dai walked towards the window to look at the dimming sunset.

Aki read the list out to Dai and somewhat to Sasuke too, though he was sure not to be listening fully.

"Three broken ribs; wounds to the face and chest; a twisted wrist, right; a minor concussion; and many, MANY bruises."

Dai sighed.

"And I'M the one who has to take him back…" he muttered under his breath as he approached the bed.

Sasuke had been completely bandaged up, practically head to toe, and he was wearing long black pants with a matching short sleeve shirt.

Aki grabbed the Uchiha's jacket and, with the help of Dai, managed to get it on him.

As they walked out of the hospital, Sasuke needing to balance against the two once more, Aki was able to whisper into Dai's ear, "See? I don't think he deserves to be punished much more, do you?"

Dai looked away and said nothing.

*A little later at ANBU headquarters…*

Aki and Dai separated paths as Aki headed to her office and Dai took Sasuke to his new room.

"Come on, this way…" he mumbled to the Uchiha as he dragged him towards the more protected sector of the headquarters.

Guards lined the hallway and the doors were solid steel.

Dai stopped in front of "Room 43" and exchanged a few words with the two ANBU standing on either side of it.

He was given a key, and, after unlocking the door, pulled the boy inside.

It looked more like a hotel room than a jail cell.

There was an average bed, with a nightstand on the side, a bathroom and closet also.

Dai half led, half carried Sasuke to the bed and put his stuff on the nightstand.

"Hmmm…" the Uchiha mumbled as the ANBU unzipped his jacket and carefully laid him down on the bed.

Dai slipped Sasuke's jacket off and hung it up in the closet.

After covering him up with a blanket, the ninja quietly left the room.

He locked the room behind him, said his goodbyes to the guards and headed back towards Aki's office.

Right before he knocked on her door, he glanced back towards the hallway.

Dai subconsciously knocked on the door and Aki exclaimed, "Come on in, Dai!"

As he entered the room, he thought to himself, _'A little mercy, eh…?'_

Slowly, the door closed behind him.

#

I'll try to update sooner this time.

Sakura 8D


	3. Now What?

*The next morning…*

Dai stared at the grinning Uchiha.

"…nine…" he said threateningly.

Sasuke's grin widened.

"Go… fish…" he whispered back.

"AGH! You're kidding me!!" Dai exclaimed as he drew the last card in the deck.

"Ha ha, just give me the four now."

At that moment, Aki walked into the room.

"What're you two up to this time?" she asked as she stood next to Dai, each hand on a hip.

"Go Fish, and I just won," Sasuke responded, smirking.

Dai glared and yelled, "I BET YOU CAN'T WIN IN A FIST FIGHT!" and he pulled his hand back to punch him.

"Now, now, Dai. That's enough of that. Moving on to more important matters," Aki said as she turned to Sasuke, "How are you feeling? Any better today?"

Sasuke shrugged.

"The painkillers you gave me this morning helped out a lot. But I'd be lying if I said I felt alright…" he responded, handing the cards to Dai who shuffled them.

"Hm, that's too bad. I've been talking to Hokage-sama, and she said that you will be released from the ANBU headquarters soon, but we're going to have to watch over you," Aki stated as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

Dai started dealing out the cards, this time including his teammate in the game.

Suddenly, he stopped.

"Wait…" he started, "What do you mean… 'we'?"

Aki smiled nervously and scratched her head.

Sasuke just stared at the two, then turned his attention to his set of cards.

"Well… uh… Hokage-sama wants us, me and you, to… watch over Sasuke here… so… yeah…" she said while twiddling her fingers.

Dai stared at her with his mouth wide open.

"You… are… kidding… me…" he mumbled, covering his face with his hand.

"I know you hate these kinds of missions, Dai, but the Hokage really wants us to complete it… I mean… it's not that bad…" Aki said to him, patting his back.

Sasuke looked up from his cards and said, "I'm not that bad, am I?"

Aki laughed and waved her hand at him.

"No, no, no. Not you. It's just, there was an interesting mission, somewhat like this one, and it didn't end very well. We won't go into that. I just think Tsunade-sama likes to torture him…"

Aki sighed and stood up.

She brushed the cards next to her aside and put her hand on Dai's shoulder.

"Come on, Dai. Let's leave him alone for a bit. He needs to rest."

Dai also sighed and stood up.

"Get some sleep now, eh?" Dai said as he and Aki left the room.

Sasuke watched them leave in silence.

The door closed and the locks were done.

Their footsteps slowly faded away down the hall.

Sasuke put his cards in the pile and looked around the room.

His eyes threatened to close, but he was too restless to sleep right now.

There was no window in the room, and generally nothing to entertain him other than the cards.

Slowly, he shifted down into his warm bed, and turned to his side, staring at the wall.

'_So… this is what it's like… the ANBU headquarters… at least from the criminals' point of view…'_

*Afternoon…*

Aki walked in with a tray of food.

Sasuke had been sleeping all morning, and has continued for a few hours into the afternoon.

Aki quietly put her hand on his shoulder and whispered, "Come on, Sasuke. Time to wake up. You need to eat."

Sasuke turned to face her, though he made no movement to sit up.

He rubbed his eyes.

"Hm, you ok?" Aki said, placing the tray on the nightstand and putting her hand on his forehead.

"Hm…" Sasuke mumbled, trying to turn away from her.

"Fighting a cold inside, huh? Well, all I need from you is to eat. That's all. Ok? Not too hard now, is it?" she said as she managed to pull him up into a sitting position.

"I'm not feeling so great right now…" he muttered as she handed him a sandwich.

"What do you mean? Do you feel like you're going to throw up?"

He just nodded, taking a bite out of the sandwich.

"Ah, well then. Let me go see if I can find you some medicine or something…"

Aki left the room and returned moments later with a bottle of painkillers.

Sasuke had finished most of the sandwich when the door opened and Aki walked back in.

"Hey, look what I found!" She exclaimed as she held up the bottle and a cup of water.

Sasuke tiredly placed the remains of the sandwich on the plate.

He looked up at her as she took out two pills from the bottle.

She held out her hand with them and waited for him to take them.

"Crap, I'm going to puke…" Sasuke said as he pushed the covers aside and headed straight to the bathroom.

Aki just stared blankly as she watched him walk to the bathroom and slam the door behind him.

As expected, the normal puking sounds came moments later.

When I seemed to quiet down, she darned to enter the bathroom and check on the boy.

She found him half-conscious and leaning against the wall next to the toilet.

The ANBU sighed and pulled Sasuke up to his feet.

"I'm ok, I'm ok now…" he mumbled as she flushed the toilet and led him back to his bed.

"No, you're not. I shouldn't have given you that sandwich when you said you were going to throw up, but no worries. You aren't getting any more food to throw up…"

Sasuke sat on the edge of the bed, threatening to fall over at any moment.

"Now, take this medicine. The more sleep you get, the more energy your body has to spend on recovering…" Aki said calmly, though there was a worried look on her face.

"'k…"

*Dinnertime*

Dai popped his head into the room.

Sasuke had been asleep since he took the medicine; a whole six hours.

Even in his sleep, he wasn't looking in such great condition.

Quietly, the ANBU walked into the room and approached the bed.

'_Hm… his fever hasn't gone down yet… and he's a bit pale… hm…'_ Dai thought to himself.

He pulled the cover up more, and started out the room.

Letting himself into Aki's empty office, he sat down behind the desk and put his feet up.

He took out a manga and began reading.

Only moments later, Aki walked into the room.

She sighed, and said, "Dai… hiding again…"

"Yup…" was all he answered as he turned the page.

"Did you check out Sasuke? How's he doing?"

Dai sighed and put his feet down.

"His fever hasn't gone down any, and he's just plain sick. He hasn't gotten better; is there anything else you could say?" Dai explained, leaning against the desktop.

Aki sighed and sat down also.

"So, not good I take it?"

Dai nodded.

"So… we really have to watch over him when he gets out…?" Dai whispered after a few moments of silence.

Aki just nodded.

"I see…"

There were a few more minutes of slightly awkward silence.

Finally, Aki asked him, "What do you think of the kid?"

"Huh?" Dai responded with a confused look on his face.

"Sasuke. What do you think of him?"

Dai sighed.

"Well, he sure ain't as threatening as he's said to be…" he started, lying back in the chair, "I don't know really. He's not that bad…"

Aki smiled and sat back in her chair also.

"I agree with you there. He's just some kid. But I'm sure he's more powerful in battle. It's good that he's calmed down though. Saves us some trouble…"

Dai nodded.

"So, do you know when exactly we get to take him home? When he gets out of here?" Dai asked, standing up from the seat.

Aki followed him and stood up too.

"Well, not exactly. I'm going to have to report his sickness to the Hokage, and she'll decide from there. I'd say… in a few days or so. That's a safe guess."

Dai sighed and started walking to the door.

"'k then. Well, I'm off to check outta here and go into town. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye."

*Later*

Aki silently walked into Sasuke's room.

He had been sleeping peacefully all day, but when she checked his temperature, he was still burning up.

"Oh, Sasuke… come on…" she mumbled as she sat down in the chair next to the bed.

"Hm…" he muttered as he turned in his sleep.

Aki dipped a small towel into the bowl of water on the nightstand and put it on his head.

He grimaced when the cold water touched his skin, but she could tell that it made him feel better.

Aki became bored after a few quiet moments.

The only sound was of the guard's footsteps outside the room, and Sasuke's deep breathing.

Aki stood and strolled out the room.

*Hokage's Office*

Aki knocked loudly on the door.

"Come in," a voice from inside exclaimed.

Aki did so, and found Tsunade working at her desk.

"Hello there. How's our prisoner doing?"

Aki stood straight and bowed formally to the woman in front of her.

"Not so great. He seems to have come down with a bad cold, discovered just this morning. So far, no recovery has occurred," Aki responded, not relaxing from her respectful stance.

"Hm, I see…"

There was a moment of silence.

"Well, you might as well take him home. How about tomorrow? Or do you prefer the day after that?" the Hokage concluded, leaning back in her seat.

"Whatever you think best, Hokage-sama."

Another silence.

"When you're ready, you can take him home. I'm sure you're going to have to work on the house a bit… Ok, dismissed," she said, waving the ANBU away and turning to look out the window.

The ninja bowed and left the room.


End file.
